USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 33
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
pastor until May 18, 1886, when he resigned, and Rev. J. E. Zerger succeeded to the pastorate September 16, 1886. There is also a Lutheran Church, Saint Matthew's, in Knox township, which since 1870 has been supplied by the Brookville pastor.
The churches at Emerickville and Reynoldsville have no pastors, and are occasionally supplied by the Lutheran minister at Du Bois. Emerickville was supplied from Brookville from 1869 until 18 -.
The Brookville and St. John's Churches are still united under the same pas- tor. The membership of Zion Church is now seventy-seven, and that of Saint John's forty-five. These churches maintain flourishing Sunday-schools. The Brookville school having first been started under the superintendency of Mr. John Boucher, who for over twenty years was identified with the school, and when he removed to a farm near Saint Matthew's Church, he became a worker in the Sunday-school of that church, and was found surrounded by the chil- dren of the school on each succeeding Sabbath day, until a few months before his death. Mr. Boucher was a member of the Lutheran Church for sixty-five years, and was identified with the church in Jefferson county for thirty-six years, having removed to Brookville in 1850. He was the last of the original members of Zion Church (except Mrs. Shackleford) when he died October 10, 1886, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His family, all of whom (except his second wife and youngest daughter, who died before him), were members of Zion Church, in which his daughter, Mrs. Parker P. Blood, is now a prominent member and zealous worker.
The Lutheran Church (old school) at Punxsutawney was organized in 1856, and has had services at intervals ever since. These services were at first held in the Lutheran Reformed Church on the hill. Rev. William Engelbach was the first pastor, and preached for about one year. Rev. Henneman succeeded him, and preached for some time in a school-house that stood in the center of the public square. In 1867 Rev. C. C. Brandt became the pastor, and that year, the church the congregation now occupies was erected. The pastors of the church since then have been Revs. Jacob Rasig, Peter Engers, - Green- miller, F. W. Spindle, K. Waltz, Julius Bauch, John M. Meissner. Rev. C. Engelder has been the pastor for the past ten years.
The parsonage owned by this congregation and by Mr. Engelder was de- stroyed in the fire of October 9, 1886, with a loss of $1,500, with an insurance of $650. Mr. Engelder lost about $500 in household goods.
Among the prominent members of this church are Henry Ernst, John Long, William Zeitler, George Weiss.
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.1
Rise and progress of the First Protestant Episcopal Church in Jefferson county, now known as the Church of the Intercessor, Sugar Hill.
1 By Rev. Joseph Barber.
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
1850. Mr. John Robinson and his wife, Hannah Leigh, natives of Cheshire, England, residents of Philadelphia, with their family, settled in this, then, almost uninhabited part of Pennsylvania. Like a loyal son of the church, as he was, he gathered his family around and commenced lay services of the Protestant Episcopal Church and Sunday-school every Lord's day, one or two neighbors joining with them.
1853. On invitation of Mr. John Robinson, Rev. B. B. Killeykelly, of Kit- tanning visited them, administered the holy communion and baptized four children. This was the first visit of an Episcopal clergyman and the first administration of the sacraments of the church in Jefferson county. A little over one month after the visit of this man of God, Mr. Robinson was called from the service of God on earth to his service in heaven. John Hubbs Robin- son, eldest son of Mr. John Robinson, had occasional lay services at his resi- dence until the death of Mrs. Robinson which occurred in the spring of 1857.
August, 1863. On invitation of Mr. Thomas Brian, Rev. Mr. Hilton, of Kittanning, Pa., visited this place, preached, administered the sacraments of the church (twelve children baptized). Previous to this time I, the writer of this sketch, had public services in the school-house on Sundays during my visits to Mr. Robinson's family.
June, 1865. With my family I settled in this place one and one-half miles from Sugar Hill. I found the people anxious to have the services of the church resumed, the love for the same had never died out but had lain smouldering, awaiting God's time, when he would fan it into a flame again.
July 2d. Met for public service in my own house (having received before leaving Philadelphia authority to act as lay reader from the Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens, bishop of Pennsylvania, the whole State of Pennsylvania be- ing at that time under his jurisdiction). There were thirty persons present, who with joy welcomed back the long absent services.
July 9th. Organized Sunday-school in the same place, with five teachers, and twenty scholars. Again the woods of Jefferson echoed with the psalms and hymns of our beloved church. We were much encouraged in our work by letters and gifts of books, cards, papers, etc., from the Rev. Samuel Dur- borrow, of the Church of the Evangelists, Philadelphia.
1866. Having obtained permission to use the school-house, we moved to that building and continued the services without interruption until the erec- tion of the church building.
1867. Having heard of the division of the diocese, and of the consecration of the Rt. Rev. John Barrett Kerfoot, D. D., the first bishop of the diocese of Pittsburgh, I wrote to him making known how the work had begun and con- tinued.
The following is a copy of his first letter :
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
" PITTSBURGH, PA., January 24, 1867.
" MR. JOSEPH BARBER :
" My Dear Sir-I found your letter here yesterday on my return from Clearfield.
" I was in Ridgway early in November and would then have gladly made my way to you, had I known of your efforts and wants. Your letter brings me my first information of these, and it interests me deeply. I cannot, myself, possibly get to you now, nor until late on in the spring, or early in the summer.
"But I have to-day written to the Rev. Mr. Parker, of Warren, asking him to correspond with you, and arrange to give you a Sunday as soon as he can.
" Please write to him, and let him know just where and how to find you, and whether you would like to have his visit for services, baptism and the holy communion.
" Mr. Parker goes every alternate Sunday to Ridgway, and I am sure that if he can, he will go to you soon ; he will then write to me and I will try to plan further for you.
" If you and your fellow-churchmen can do it, it will be desirable and right that you should make a collection at such services to meet the expenses of any clergyman I can get to you.
" If you cannot, I will get his expenses met from other sources. Services you shall have sometimes.
" As soon as I can find more clergymen and the necessary means, you shall have stated visits, and God helping me, I will also come and see you at my earliest visitation anywhere near you. Go on, my dear brother, as you are do- ing, faithfully and diligently, in your Sunday-school, your services and your readings. You shall not be forgotten by your bishop and brethren. God will bless you and your efforts.
" Please write to me again ; tell me all you know or can learn of church people anywhere in your region, and at Brookville.
" How near to you does any railroad come ? And how shall any of us best get to you ?
" What are the ages of your Sunday- school children ?
" What Sunday-school books have you ? How many prayer-books ? and how many do you want ?
" How can a package of books reach you ?
" If Mr. Parker cannot soon get to you, I will find some other clergyman to visit you.
" Let me hear from you, and of your school and congregation every two months. Give my love and blessing to all your congregation and school, and assure them that, now that I know of them, I will keep them well in mind.
" Praying God to bless and prosper you -
" I am my dear sir faithfully your friend and bishop,
"J. B. KERFOOT."
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
From this time to the organization of the church I received letters and visits from Rev. J. H. Spaulding (now bishop of Colorado), and Rev. C. C. Parker.
"July 10th. Organized the Church of the Intercessor, the first Protestant Episcopal Church in Jefferson county. Present the bishop and Rev. John H. Spaulding, who was elected rector. I to continue lay reader in charge. The following gentlemen were elected vestrymen : John Hubbs Robinson, Thomas Brian, J. Barber, John Brian, Henry Brian, Frederick Brown.
" 1870, July IIth. The corner-stone of the church was laid by the Rev. R. Caswell.
" 1871, May 25th. The church was consecrated by the bishop, assisted by the Revs. Spaulding, Rafter, Getz, Dooris, Caswell. The Bible and prayer- book were presented to the church by the bishop, the gift of Miss Draper, of Hartford, Conn. The stone font, the gift of Mrs. Vincent's men's bible-class of St. Paul's, Erie. The altar linen was given by Mrs. Fisher's ladies' bible- class, of Emmanuel Church, Holmesburg, Pa. The communion set was the gift of Mr. J. E. Williams, of Xenia, O., through Rev. W. A. Snively, rector of Christ Church, Conn.
" 1873. The lay reader in charge was ordained deacon in Trinity Church, Pittsburgh, June 10th, the eighth anniversary of the diocese of Pittsburgh. During this and the previous years the services morning and evening, also the Sunday-school were regular, and this continued until September, 1883, at which time I resigned my charge. Since that time the church has been in charge of Rev. G. B. Van Waters, and Rev. J. H. Burton, with the occasional visits of the general missionary of the diocese, and the annual visit of Rt. Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, bishop of the diocese of Pittsburgh. The first baptized in the church building, Carrie M. Robinson. The first married, Sarah E. Rob- inson. The first buried in the church grounds upon which the church stands, John Robinson. Number baptized since 1865, sixty-one; number confirmed, thirty-two; number married, eight; number of deaths, fourteen; value of church and lot, $3,000."
The church at Sugar Hill, in Warsaw township, was the only place of wor- ship for those holding the views and doctrines of the Episcopal Church until the spring of 1887, when missions were established at Brookville and Reynolds- ville. These congregations are ministered unto twice each month by the mis- sionary of the diocese of Pittsburgh, or other ministers of the diocese. The congregation at Brookville holds its services in the Lutheran Church on the second and fourth Sundays in each month.
UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST.
Learning of the simplicity, yet fervent piety attending the form of worship prevailing in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, M. E. Steiner, of Knoxdale, in the year 1860, wrote to that body, asking that a missionary be
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
sent into Jefferson county. They complied by sending a young minister, Rev. J. W. Owens, who at once commenced a revival effort at Knoxdale, which resulted in fifty conversions, and an organization of seventy members. M. E. Steiner was chosen as leader of the new society, which position he held for many years.
A house of worship was erected at Knoxdale in 1874, and Mr. Steiner was the chief contributor to the building fund. At present this society, which is in a very prosperous condition, is worshiping in the same church edifice, Rev. J. P. Truxell, being the present pastor. From this appointment mission- ary efforts extended throughout the county, resulting in different organizations, and the building of three houses of worship, situated at Mount Tabor in Bell township, Eldred and Dowlingville, and also in the establishing of many churches and congregations of the United Brethren in the adjoining counties of Clarion, Forest, Armstrong, Indiana and Clearfield.
It might be of interest to note that the United Brethren Church is not an offshoot of any one religious body, but traces its origin to a revival move- ment among the Germans of Pennsylvania and Maryland, during the last cent- ury. It was organized by men who had been members of different denomina- tions, or of none, and the church was formally organized in 1800, by Revs. Phillip William Otterbein and Martin Boehne as bishops.
During the first half of the present century the church passed through a transition period in language, and is now almost entirely English, the German work composing only a small fraction of the whole. The names of the first society or class of this denomination, organized at Knoxville, were, Dr. J. G. Steiner and his wife, Mrs. Rebecca Steiner, M. E. Steiner and and his wife, Mrs. Susannah Steiner, three children of M. E. Steiner, Rebecca E., J. G. jr., and Saralı S. (the two daughters died in 1861), George Horner, Susannah Horner, Peter Friedline, sr., Hannah Friedline, Daniel Friedline, Sevela Friedline, J. D. Rhoades, Christina Rhoades Daniel Bailey, Elizabeth Bailey, John Strawcutter, Regina Strawcutter, W. Eckman, Peter Bailey, 'Mary Bailey, Hannah Straw- cutter, Jesse Cravener, Philip Rhoades, S. Swineford, Daniel Rhoades, Daniel Friedline, jr., J. W. Strawcutter, David Lemmon, J. Moliney, Peter Wolf, Chris- tina Wolf, Lydia Wolf, Miss Regina Strawcutter, Kate Eckman, Peter Fried- line, jr., A. Harp, S. S. Wolf, H. J. Wolf, William Bailey, E. Mercer, Regina Friedline, George Friedline, M. Mercer, Miss M. Rhoades, Solomon Yoder, J. D. Mercer, John Wolf, E. B. Cavenore, Mrs. Cavenore, Elizabeth Chitester, Phebe Eckman, J. G. Gearheart, Eliza Gearheart, Eliza Eckman, J. N. Stine, W. S. Yoder, Catharine Stallman, Lucinda Milliron, M. E. Kitchen, Phebe Wise, Hannah Yount, Sarah Yoder, Mrs. E. Yoder, J. H. Wise, Clara Wise, Mrs. Hannah Rhoades, Miss Hannah Rhoades, Louisa Harp. .
This congregation was much reduced in membership the following year, as twenty-three of those named above enlisted ir the service of their country in
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
1861, and of these but very few lived to return. Very few of the first mem- bers of this congregation are living. Mr. M. E. Steiner and wife were when the church was organized in the prime of life; now they are the oldest mem- bers, but as the elders have passed away the younger people have taken their places, and the Knoxdale church is in a prosperous condition.
Of the pastors who have served the church at Knoxdale those most gene- rally known are Revs. J. B. Empheil, J. W. Woodward, W. K. Shimp, J. G. Steiner, J. N. Munden, G. A. Noden, David Steel, and the present pastor Rev. J. P. Truxell. J. G. Steiner, a son of M. E. Steiner, and one of the original members of the church is now a minister of this denomination, and is at pres- ent pastor of the United Brethren Church at Marietta, Pa.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CHURCHES-Continued.
The Catholic Church-John Dougherty the Pioneer of the Catholic Faith in the County- The Coming of Belgian and German Families-The Early Priest-Building of the First Church in Brookville-The Fiscus Church-St. Ann's Academy-Building of the New Church at Brookville -- Parochial School and Residence-The Reynoldsville Church-The New Church at Punxsutawney-Membership-Societies-Statistics.
HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.1
T HE first practical Catholic in Brookville, and likely in the county, was John Dougherty, who, June 14, 1830, bought a number of lots in the newly- laid out county-seat and moved there in the autumn of 1831, with his wife nce Grace Annette Kerr. His only daughter, Kate, born April 18, 1832 (since September 4, 1854, wife of Colonel S. J. Marlin), was three months old, when in Dougherty's popular hostelry " Peace and Poverty," she was baptized by the Rev. John O'Neil of Freeport, and she was no doubt the first Catholic baptized in the limits of the new county. The next Catholic was John Gallagher, after- wards justice of the peace, who came to Brookville either in 1832 or 1833. Soon after came George Mclaughlin, afterwards high sheriff of the county ; Michael Woods, mail-carrier, later court-crier ; October 4, 1842, Jacob Hoff- man ; in 1846, Edmund English (father of the Hon. Edmund, Daniel, William, and Morgan English). About 1850 came Dennis Grein (father of Mrs. Eph- raim Lyle and Mrs. Emanuel J. Zonger), and Andrew Bridge to Clover town- ship, John Montgomery to Rose township, Patrick McTaffe, John Coyle, Jacob
1 By Rev. C. Wienker.
34
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Schriever, Bernard Klein, R. J. Baxter, Jacob Mineweaser, Andrew Loch, Ferdinand Wanner (later his brother John), Henry Heber, John (Wollen) Snyder, John Voinchet, Leonard Singer, Zitzelsperger, Beach, Arnold, Honadle and others. Some years previous had come a Belgian, Benedict Angels, who returned to Belgium in 1846 or 1847 and induced a number of his countrymen to seek a new home in and about Brookville. Among this num- ber were Peter D. Van Milders, Dominic De Smet, John Baptiste Levis, De Vilder and Sadler. Soon after came the greater part of a Belgian colony (be- tween 1851 and '59) who under an agent (of the Belgian government), De Ham, had tried to start in Elk county a Belgian colony, New Flanders. To these belonged Charles Van Overbeck, B. Verstine, Frederick Brooks, Charles Ver- beck, Jacob Osselaer, Doubles. Some time before this a few Catholics by name of Arons, Cypherts and Rentsels, besides Cuddy and Clark, had settled down in Union township; old Mr. John Fiscus and his sons Paul and James, later William Bender, Andrew Rufner, Joseph and Abram Greenwalt and John Zonger, and James Carroll in Eldred township. Almost all of these had moved up from the neighborhood of the so-called Redbank Church in Lime- stone township (at the present Crate P. O.), Clarion county. Besides the above a few men of Catholic parentage had settled in the remoter parts of this county. Such are the O'Haras on the Clarion River, a Feely above Rey- noldsville, James Murphy along the pike, Anthony McKinna and Cavanora in the Beechiwoods, the Haney brothers near Punxsutawney, Jerry Topper, Smith (the father of Patrick Smith), Quinton O'Kane, and others. Want of religious instruction, complete separation from Catholic society and Catholic clergy, besides other reasons which the last day shall reveal to the world, caused the faith to die out in almost all of these men or at least their children. Interest- ing is the fact that the father of the late Judge Taylor (Schneider) was of Cath- olic origin, as an old family heir-loom, an old German prayer-book most dis- tinctly Catholic, proves beyond doubt. The building up of Brookville and the county, and the construction of the Low Grade Railroad drew here quite a number of new Catholic families, so that at present there are belonging to the Brookville Catholic congregation a little over one hundred families, of whom at least three-fourths are practical Catholics. But after mentioning the pioneer Catholics of the county I must not forget the pioneer priests, who for the most part had left more comfortable homes and civilized countries to become the voice of "one crying in the wilderness." Brookville was for several years only visited as a station by the priests of the older Catholic settlements in But- ler, Armstrong, and Clarion counties. The first priest who attended Brook- ville was Rev. John O'Neil, of Freeport, since 1832. The same, afterwards, when in trouble with his ecclesiastical superiors, bought a tract of land in Mill- stone Creek (on the Clarion River) and lumbered there, being still called " Priest O'Neil." Next came Rev. Father John Coady from Sugar Creek, But -
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THE CHURCHES IN JEFFERSON COUNTY.
ler county (four times a year) ; next Father Hoy, from Clarion, Father Andrew Skopez from Fryburg, Clarion county (looked particularly after the Germans at irregular visits from 1846), when he arrived at Fryburg till about 1860; Father Slattery, from Clarion ; Father Dela Roque from Frenchtown, Crawford county ; and Father Berbigier, from Frenchville, Clearfield county (now both in Warren, Pa.). Ever since St. Mary's, Elk county, was started, the priests from there would occasionally come through Brookville and then minister to the spiritual wants of the Catholics. Particular mention deserves Father Alexander the Redemptionist, and the Benedictine Fathers: Rupert (Seidenbusch, now Bishop), Amandus, Celestine, Giles, also the Rt. Rev. Albot Wimmer, from St. Vincent's, mostly on their way between St. Vincent's and St. Mary's. In 184I Rt. Rev. Bishop Patrick Francis Kenrick, of Philadelphia, was in Brook- ville, accompanied by Dr. Michael O'Connor, afterwards Bishop of Pittsburgh. He delivered at that time in the old Brookville court-house a temperance lec- ture (most likely the first in the county), which was quite generally attended and admired. After that he walked all the way to the Redbank Church (four- teen miles), leaving the carriage to Dr. O'Connor and the Dougherty family. The first priest stationed here was Father Dean in 1847 ; he stayed but a short time, as he, coming from Boston, found people and town not congenial. After him Brookville was attended by Father Slattery, from Clarion county, till 1851. After that by Rev. Thomas Ledewith who resided in Corsica and partly in Redbank, Clarion county. He had gathered the above-named Catholics of Union and Clover townships into the nucleus of a small congregation at Cor- sica, and also commenced to organize a congregation in Brookville. In the summer of 1852 the corner-stone of the old church was laid on the lot given by John Dougherty (lot No. 1, north of Water street) ; the same scason the foundation walls were finished. The following year, 1853, the brick work was completed and the church and (unfinished) tower were put under roof. The church was not dedicated until a raw, early summer day in 1854, and even then the church was unplastered, and boards and planks serving as temporary seats. But worse trouble was ahead ; the church was, for less than $300, sold September, 1855, on a mechanic's lien (of the bricklayer), and bought in by Dougherty and Gallagher, who held the deed till reimbursed by the congrega- tion. The church was plastered and seated about 1856. Up till 1853 serv- ices were always held in private houses, generally at the residence of John Dougherty, sometimes at the houses of Edmund English, of Andrew Loch, and Jacob Hoffman.
In 1855 and 1856, the same Father Ledewith built at Corsica St. Ann's Academy, a good sized two-story brick building with basement, one room to serve as chapel for the Catholics around Corsica, the rest as boarding- school for young ladies. It was given in charge to the Sisters of St. Joseph from Erie, and under the careful management of Mother Agnes, for a while
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HISTORY FO JEFFERSON COUNTY.
bid fairly to succeed ; but the distance from a sufficient number of well-to-do Catholic families, and from the highways of travel, besides the strong dis- like and opposition of the following pastor (Father Mollinger), to both the place and the sisters, compelled Bishop Young, of Erie, to allow the sisters to abandon the place early in the sixties, and the building, now nearly past repairing because of crumbling away of the foundation walls, has since only served as chapel for the neighboring Catholics. Father Ledewith had consid- erable trouble with the very mixed Catholic congregation of Brookville, con- sisting, as it did, of Irishmen, Americans, Germans, and Belgians. Likely in 1858 Father Suibert G. Mollinger came here as Father Ledewith's assistant, and soon after succeeded him as pastor (at least as early as June, 1859). He was very zealous, pushing and energetic, and on the whole quite well liked, and quite successful. He took up his home in 'Brookville in the present Farley house, then George Mclaughlin's, northeast corner of Water and Barnett streets. He remained in Brookville, attending from there Corsica, Redbank, Sligo Furnace, and in general the southeastern part of Clarion, besides the whole of Jefferson county. A disagreement with his bishop (Rt. Rev. Joshua M. Young, of Erie), chiefly about St. Ann's Academy at Corsica, caused him to leave Brookville and the diocese of Erie. He was received into the Pitts- burgh diocese where he has for years been famous as Father Mollinger of Troy Hill. A sad time of confusion and misunderstanding between priests and peo- ple, not free from scandals above and below, followed for the Brookville Cath- olic congregation. The names of the priests who in rapid succession had charge of Brookville were : Father John (J. J. Zanitowsky, January and Feb- ruary 1866), Father Lemagie (till September, 1866), Fathers Snively, Schnei- der, Daley and Lamarque (1868-Aug. 1869). Of these Father Snively (a well-meaning priest and sincere convert to the church, but endowed with more knowledge of books than of the world), encouraged and partly completed the little (40 by 30) frame church of St. Dominic, called "Fiscus," a mile south of Sigel post-office, ncar the Olean road, for the Catholics of Eldred township. Father Snyder had a basement built to the old church, in the rooms of which he intended and for a while tried to live; in his time also the gallery was put into the old church. Though Brookville had so many pastors at that period, yet there was several times an interregnum, when Father Koch, from Vogel- bachers (Lucinda P. O., Clarion county), attended to the spiritual wants of the Brookville Catholics. On the 3d of September, 1869, Father Wienker 1 (then only a little over twenty-three years of age), arrived in Brookville as assistant to Father Stumpe, who, however, came only six weeks later himself. Said Father Wienker was then but a few days over five months in the country, spoke hardly any English, and knew but little of the country, its ways and laws.
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